The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The bard in the capital was indeed not lying. After confirming Balo's identity as a second-tier runemaster, he arranged a beautiful little house for Balo.

However, the actual work was quite different from what Barlow had imagined.

Although it was indeed as rumored that the governor wanted to build a mage tower, this mage tower was completely different from what Baloo had imagined.

All the functions of the mage tower have been simplified, leaving only the functions of storing and releasing magic.

Rather than a mage's tower, its current appearance makes it resemble a giant black obelisk.

Meanwhile, the ground around the obelisk is covered with a dense network of complex wiring, most of which are metal pipes.

The complex circular rune arrays surrounding the obelisk create a ring-like effect, which, combined with the simple obelisk itself, gives it an indescribable beauty.

Don't you think it's beautiful?

A blond young man appeared beside Barlow.

"This is more beautiful than any mage tower I've ever seen."

Barlow nodded in agreement. The enormous obelisk had only a few rooms left that looked like they were for repairs. The rest was constructed from magic stones, primary sand, and some conductive materials. It was simple, unpretentious, yet grand and imposing.

The blond youth extended his hand and introduced himself: "Sean Lars."

Barlow instinctively shook hands and replied, "Barlow Hubert."

But Barlow quickly realized the surname after the other person's name and immediately withdrew his hand, momentarily flustered and unsure of what etiquette to use to greet him.

Sean held down the other man's bewildered hands and said, "I'm just an apprentice here. Just call me Sean."

That's what they say, but no one dares to really treat Sean as an ordinary apprentice, even though he's wearing the same uniform as everyone else.

Instead of directly assigning jobs to professionals like Barlow, the gray-collar workers gathered them together for pre-job training after assessment.

The main learning content was magic triggers and Olympiad magic circles. A petite female teacher, holding a thick notebook, stood on the podium and stumbled as she explained the working principle of Olympiad magic circles, as well as various parameters of magic transmission and the disassembly of rune magic circles.

The professionals in the audience gradually changed from initial doubt and disdain to serious expressions.

Barlow even began to have trouble understanding what the petite female teacher on stage was saying, his mind filled with all sorts of complex parameters and formulas.

Relying solely on calculations without using professionals to drive magic, everyone felt they must be crazy to sit here learning such bizarre knowledge.

However, many people are so captivated by this knowledge that they feel deeply immersed in it, believing it to be the secret of the old empire and wanting to rush out and put it into practice immediately.

After all, most of the people who come here are frustrated and marginalized professionals. Who hasn't imagined themselves to be a chosen one?

The Olympiad magic array seemed to offer them a path that, at least in appearance, didn't require them to compete in magical talent.

Whether the governor had thought of this or not, these professionals were taken to the construction site at the foot of the obelisk that afternoon to begin their practice.

It was only at this point that Balo finally understood what this minimalist mage tower was actually used for.

Simply put, this is an energy supply device, which is no different from a regular mage tower. However, while a mage tower provides magic to the professionals inside, this obelisk connects to other buildings.

The massive magic circle below is the main body of the magic focusing array. The circular magic circle below the obelisk is called the mother magic circle, which is used to concentrate and distribute the magic power of the obelisk.

The task of Balo and the others was to plan out the sub-arrays that would connect to the mother array according to the requirements, so as to connect the magic circuits on both sides, tune and couple the magic power from the mother array, and then transmit this magic power to the places where it was needed through the transmission medium.

The obelisk is a huge power source, while the magic circle below it is a capacitor, and may also serve as a transformer.

At this moment, a sub-array has been planned within the magic focusing array, which is used to charge the magic container made of primary sand.

The task of Balo and the others was to imitate this sub-array and create other sub-arrays according to the requirements.

"The first thing is the design of the magic circle interface. By recompiling the rune bytes in the arcane magic circle, the two magic circles can be connected to each other, and magic power flows from the higher-level magic circle to the lower-level magic circle."

What? A magic circle interface? Rune bytes? A high-level magic circle? Barlow first doubted that he had misheard, and then he doubted his mediocre general language grades from his school days.

Balo felt that his years of experience as a second-tier runemaster were completely useless here. The previous mother and child magic arrays were already beyond the knowledge range of a second-tier runemaster. Balo could only understand them as magic arrays with different functions.

The magic circle interface has completely touched upon Barlow's blind spots in knowledge.

Lisha seemed to realize something and said, "The compilation materials for Runebytes will be distributed to everyone later. Don't worry, it's very simple."

It turns out that mathematics may require more talent than magic, and many people even feel somewhat hopeless after studying it for a day.

This is a completely new magic system, a magic system built on the foundation of mathematics. The magic manipulation that professionals relied on for survival in the past has the greatest role in this system: verification and exhaustive search.

That evening, in the makeshift classroom, seeing her first group of students looking on with despair at the magic focusing array, Lisha realized that her start had been too difficult. She could only try to comfort them:

"Don't be afraid, everyone. As long as you master the basics, the advanced math array is very simple. Even rune craftsmen can easily master some of the basics today. I can't even control my magic. You can definitely do better."

Hearing that these were just the basics, everyone felt even more desperate. However, when Lisha said that she couldn't mobilize her magic, many people looked at their little teacher with expressions as if she were a monster.

Fortunately, even if they don't understand the Olympiad math array, these people can still do many basic calculations. This is not only everyone's homework, but also their job.

Although most people didn't know the meaning of the questions in their hands, after reading the compilation of the rune bytes, Barlow vaguely felt that these rune bytes, which were all numbers, were not just simple numbers, but more like a new language.

As everyone prepared to leave, Sean stopped Barlow and began to ask him some questions about rune bytes, because Barlow was the only one among everyone who had started writing after the questions were distributed.

"Lord Sean, why don't you just ask your teacher for advice?"

Barlow found it strange. It was already surreal that the governor's brother-in-law was sitting with him learning these things, but he didn't expect him to ask him questions.

Sean gave a wry smile: "No need to call me sir. Teacher Lisha's level is too high. My talent in this area is very average. I really can't understand it."

Barlow agreed wholeheartedly. After exchanging words with Sean for a while, Barlow asked, "Why is Your Excellency Sean so obsessed with this obelisk? Couldn't you simply take charge of its management?"

“My brother-in-law once spent a whole day setting up a tent himself in order to establish standards for setting up tents. If I don’t understand how this obelisk works, how will I manage it in the future?”

Sean continued, "Besides, don't you want to carve your name on this first obelisk?"

After returning to his new home, Barlow didn't scratch his head over the problem like the others; instead, he kept thinking about Sean's words.

The governor did not build this obelisk and magic focusing array simply to create a spectacle. Recalling the mathematical array he had encountered today and the factories he had passed on his way to Gray Collar, Ballow suddenly understood the significance of the obelisk.

After lighting the lamps, Barlow excitedly trembled as he took out the textbooks and manuscript paper that had been distributed that day. A new era was about to begin, and the key to this new era was now in his own hands.

You must carve your name on the obelisk.